New Weber pellet grills for 2020


 
I think the concerns raised do need to be addressed. I can’t really blame Weber for touting high heat grilling at their recent shindig with all those well known bbq people in attendance. First, that is the main breakthrough that the SmokeFire brings to the competition. Second, for a dog and pony show like they put on you need things with quick results. You can’t expect a crowd to hang around for 14-hour brisket. And anyway they made some of that to show and let the chefs taste. It certainly looked like real low and slow bbq to me.

It looks to me like Weber worked seriously on the engineering on the SmokeFire, so I am going to surprised if it turns out to make a mess that is hard to clean in spite of their design efforts. Even so, it - or any grill - will require regular cleaning. My Rec Tec using an aluminum foil covered shield and the old fashioned bucket does take effort to keep clean and in running order. Not an unreasonable amount, but it would turn into a disaster if used the way many casual users of gas grills do: ignore cleaning and keep on grilling on it until it burns up.

I am overall personally impressed with the SmokeFire based on what I have seen so far. Looks like some well thought out solutions towards making a better and more versatile pellet grill. I know I would at least enjoy trying one out. I do think steak and other high heat grilled meats would probably taste better on it than on a gas grill.
 
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One thing I want to know is how long it would take from cold to get up to 600 degrees. I guess a lot of these questions will be answered within a month or two of them hitting the retail market.
 
Bruce said:
One thing I want to know is how long it would take from cold to get up to 600 degrees. I guess a lot of these questions will be answered within a month or two of them hitting the retail market.
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They are saying 15 minutes.
 
I heard the fifteen minute claim. That is really good performance, but I tend to believe it. The flavorizer bar set up must allow for faster heat generation than what my Rec Tec can do with its solid thick stainless shield. In comparison, the Rec Tec and most other pellet grills are more like the gas grill that was in Costco a while back that looked very impressive and bragged about flare-up prevention. But many of you noted that it, too, had a solid stainless shield and that a number of reviewers had complained that it couldn’t get up to searing heat level.

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Maybe Weber really did find a way to improve the pellet grill design. If it cleans up tolerably well, than it could be a big winner for the Weber brand.
 
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I’d be interested in the time gap between smoking temps and 600° sear temps. I like to reverse sear chops and steaks to put some smoke on first then finish at hi temp. Right now I wind up using two grills, or taking the meat off for a while and putting it back on. If the smokefire can do it in less than 10 minutes maybe it’s a winner.
 
Thanks Jon, for your insight. If Weber did all the things they said then Kudos to them. Let see what
those that get one have to say.
I would love to be one!
 
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That first owner won't be me. But I do hope at least someone here gets one. I would like to see it really put through its paces and its construction examined honestly and in detail.

I am sure it will come up short in some ways as will any middle market offering. Still, it looks like Weber has done a lot of things right and done way more than just turn out a carbon copy of everyone else's pellet grill.
 
You all should note all these "claims" are being made on grills that are being used indoors in a temperature controlled environment and no wind. The real test comes when they're outside on a cold day with some wind. I personally find it hard to believe that little tiny firepot is going to do all the things Weber claims
 
LMichaels said:
You all should note all these "claims" are being made on grills that are being used indoors in a temperature controlled environment and no wind. The real test comes when they're outside on a cold day with some wind. I personally find it hard to believe that little tiny firepot is going to do all the things Weber claims
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I'm sure your correct under ideal conditions it may bee feasible. Today it's 27 degrees and very windy and I can assure you my butt won't be outside screwing around with any grill.
Weapon of choice today Ta Da.

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[/url]100_4156 by Richard Dahl, on Flickr[/IMG]
My Winter Weber.
 
LMichaels said:
You all should note all these "claims" are being made on grills that are being used indoors in a temperature controlled environment and no wind. The real test comes when they're outside on a cold day with some wind. I personally find it hard to believe that little tiny firepot is going to do all the things Weber claims
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True statement there Larry!
Like I said several pages back, I’m not buying the first year production of anything!
 
LMichaels said:
You all should note all these "claims" are being made on grills that are being used indoors in a temperature controlled environment and no wind. The real test comes when they're outside on a cold day with some wind. I personally find it hard to believe that little tiny firepot is going to do all the things Weber claims
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Larry, I have my reservations as well. But, since my experience with grills other than gas and especially pellet grills is somewhat limited, I won't discount anything until I see proof one way or the other.

Rich: I will be lucky to see 27 when I am cooking my Thanksgiving turkey on the Genesis and roto. A slow cooker: Another Weber product that I didn't know existed. But it seems like an odd choice of product to put the Weber name on.
 
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Rich Dahl said:
I'm sure your correct under ideal conditions it may bee feasible. Today it's 27 degrees and very windy and I can assure you my butt won't be outside screwing around with any grill.
Weapon of choice today Ta Da.

45635523302_ee9dd83c90_z.jpg
[/url]100_4156 by Richard Dahl, on Flickr[/IMG]
My Winter Weber.
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27 and windy...In Iowa that's almost balmy in January and February. I can assure you that most all grills still work in those temps ;-) Love your Weber indoor model though.
 
This time it looks like I’m the guy with “decent” weather this year.
38 partly cloudy 7mph wind, sounds pretty good for me. I’m doing a bigger bird than usual lately. This one is 21 lb. I’ve been doing 12 pound turkeys for the last ten years or so.
 
Guys, I suffer for months all summer and try to dodge hurricanes...now my time is finally here: 75 degrees outside as I used my funky little Sunbeam “The Judge” grill to make my lunch. November is Floridian’s month since the weather is usually nice like now but most of the snowbird tourists have yet to arrive:D.
 
Bruce said:
Larry, I have my reservations as well. But, since my experience with grills other than gas and especially pellet grills is somewhat limited, I won't discount anything until I see proof one way or the other.

Rich: I will be lucky to see 27 when I am cooking my Thanksgiving turkey on the Genesis and roto. A slow cooker: Another Weber product that I didn't know existed. But it seems like an odd choice of product to put the Weber name on.
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Disclosure, that ain't a real Weber Bruce, it's the creation of a retired guy (me) with too much time on his hands. I took one of our two slow cookers took it apart and painted it red the handles black and stuck a logo off and old genesis on it. Sure does get a lot of comments when I post a picture of it though.
 
Rich: I admire you dedication. Great job on it too. I think you should attach one of those Weber propane grill badges too it as well.
 
My interest in the new offering from Weber is waning.
If I do decide to add a pellet grill/smoker to my deck I have no need for it's grilling ability or high tech connections, much less its price, $1K will buy a lot of good meat.
My oldest son has a Pit Boss, lower end model, and it does what he wants it to do and loves it.
I would like to see if pellet smoking is for me, so perhaps a good, used, simple unit would suit me. My SMOKE can monitor anything I want to know about what's going on under the lid.
 
Bob, as a pellet grill junkie I can say you are onto something. If you don't want to grill, you can likely get a pretty good feel from about anything. I will tell you though that all of the others (I've had multiple Traegers, GMG, CampChef, Memphis) will likely be more difficult to clean. It's not hard, but you need to remove most of inside to change foil on drip tray, vacuum out firebox and bottom of pit every 20-40 pounds of pellets burnt to keep them running the best.

I cannot tell you how excited I am for the SmokeFire. I know I love pellet grills, but the no stack, no bucket on the side, no drip tray, being able to grill if/when I want to (I have other grills for that most of the time), potentially disassembling quite a bit less to vacuum all seems too good to be true. The smoke stack and bucket aren't that big of deal for cooking, but they are a gigantic pain when you always keep your grills covered when their not cookin' food.
 
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